The storm of the dinner party still lingered in jaing yue's mind, though she had brushed off the rival CEO's daughter with her poem like flicking ash from a sleeve. The echo of her own words, "Entitlement wears lipstick and calls it beauty," had turned into whispers that spread beyond the banquet hall. For once, she had stood without fear in front of a crowd, and Li Zhenkai's faintly curved lips had been all the reward she needed.
But victory was short-lived.
Three days later, Fang Zixuan knocked on her apartment door, carrying a laptop tucked under his arm and his usual teasing smile tempered by something colder.
"You've been trending again," he said, striding into her living room without waiting for an invitation.
Jaing yue groaned, tugging her hoodie tighter. "Please don't tell me it's about that lipstick witch again."
Zixuan shook his head, his usual humor absent. "No. This is worse."
He set the laptop down on her coffee table and pulled up a string of posts. At first, they seemed harmless, pictures of her at the café, at the bookstore, outside her building. But as she scrolled further, her throat tightened.
These weren't just paparazzi shots. They were too precise, too close. The captions beneath them were obsessive, written with disturbing familiarity.
'She always orders jasmine tea at 3 PM. That means she likes routine.'
'She wore the blue dress today. She knows it's my favorite.'
Jaing yue hand trembled as she reached the final post. A blurry picture of her bedroom window, curtains half-drawn, with the caption:
'So close. Just a step away from home.'
Her stomach twisted. "Zixuan… this is…"
"Stalking," he finished grimly. "And whoever it is, they're good. They're not just a fan with a camera. They're tracking your movements."
Her mind reeled. She thought of the nights she had laughed off the feeling of being watched, the shiver on the back of her neck when walking home. Maybe it hadn't been paranoia after all.
Before panic could settle in, her phone buzzed. A single message.
> Li Zhenkai: Open the door.
She barely had time to blink before a knock sounded, firm and impatient. When she opened it, Li Zhenkai stood tall in a black suit, eyes sharper than usual. He entered with the force of a storm, his gaze immediately falling on the laptop screen.
"What's this?" His voice was ice.
Zixuan leaned back, folding his arms. "Exactly what it looks like. Someone's been tracking her."
The air in the room grew heavier, thick with an authority that was all Li Zhenkai. His jaw tightened as he scrolled through the posts, every click of the trackpad echoing like a gunshot.
When he finally spoke, his tone was low, dangerous. "No one touches her without going through me."
The words struck jaing yue's heart like an arrow. Possessive. Protective. Not spoken out of cold businesslike concern, but out of something far deeper. She stared at him, stunned, while Zixuan raised his brows as though to say, See? Even Mr. Iceberg bleeds when it's her.
"Zhenkai…" she whispered. "It's not your responsibility "
His gaze cut to hers, silencing her. "It became my responsibility the moment you stepped into my world."
Her breath caught. She wanted to argue, but part of her, the part that had longed for someone to simply choose her without conditions couldn't.
Zixuan cleared his throat, breaking the intensity. "I already traced the IP address of the posts. It's masked, rerouted through several servers. Professional. If it were just an obsessed fan, I'd have cracked it by now."
Li Zhenkai's eyes darkened further. "Then it's deliberate."
"Which means," Zixuan continued, "they're either working for someone… or they're someone with resources of their own."
Ruelle swallowed, the reality sinking in. "You mean… this might not just be a stalker. It could be someone targeting me."
"Or him," Zixuan added, tilting his chin toward Zhenkai.
The CEO's expression didn't change, but his silence was enough to confirm that thought had already crossed his mind.
Without hesitation, he pulled out his phone. "Luo Wei," he barked, addressing his most trusted subordinate. "I want every trace of this account tracked. Every shadow they've left behind, dig it out. If they breathe near her again, I want to know before they do."
The line crackled with an affirmative before he ended the call.
Zhenkai turned to her, softer now, though the storm in his eyes hadn't cleared. "Until we find out who's behind this, you don't go anywhere alone."
Ruelle's lips parted. "Are you… assigning me a bodyguard?"
He shook his head once. "No. I'm keeping you with me."
Her cheeks burned. "That's hardly practical "
"It's non-negotiable." His voice brooked no argument, yet underneath it, there was something raw, almost pleading. "Do you understand? Whoever is doing this has already crossed a line. I won't let them take another step."
For a moment, the weight of his protectiveness pressed against her chest, stealing her breath. The man who commanded empires, who dealt with rivals ruthlessly, who seemed untouchable in boardrooms, was standing here declaring war on shadows for her sake.
Zixuan leaned back, smirking faintly. "Well, looks like you've gone from poet to national treasure. Congratulations, Yue yue."
She shot him a glare, but the banter did little to ease the knot in her stomach. The posts replayed in her mind, someone watching, cataloging her life like she was a possession.
But when Li Zhenkai's hand brushed against hers, grounding her, she realized she wasn't alone in this.
The silence stretched, heavy with unspoken words, until he finally said quietly, "I won't let them touch you. Not while I'm still breathing."
And though fear still lingered in the corners,she believes him